What's Up with Reality?

     If you've been reading this blog for a while (which not many have) you've probably noticed I spend a lot of time on the internet, especially fan sites, which I usually love. The one thing I don't especially enjoy is haters. But the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen a hater say is "I don't/didn't like the book because it doesn't seem/wasn't realistic." Despite that, they love fantasy.
    Is walking into a wardrobe and finding a magic land filled with talking beavers realistic? No. Is living in a world where children are shoved into an arena and forced to fight to the death realistic? No. Is getting a letter accepting you to a school full of wizards realistic? Still no? What about finding out one of your parents is a Greek god? Or that there's a civilization of fairies living under ground? Or that there could ever be a world where love is a disease?
    The answer to all of that is no. None of those scenarios are realistic in the least. The characters aren't that true to life either. What 11 year old would really go off by themselves to defeat a dark wizard who killed his parents without any adult help? Would a 12 year old really have the guts to walk into Hades realm and back? Why would anyone let a bunch of 16 year olds lead the country into rebellion?
    NO!
    And that’s the point! The whole point of reading fiction is because it's fiction. Our beloved characters are not real people, they do not really exist, and their purpose in the real world is to take us into their own. People read fantasy to escape their everyday life. They read to forget that they're just another random unimportant guy in a boring office or that they're just a wimpy high school nerd.
    People love fantasy because it draws us out of ourselves and transforms briefly into the characters we're reading. When they're scared, we're scared. When they're crying, we're crying. When they're safe, so are we. When we read, we leave all reality behind and let ourselves get lost in a world that we could never imagine otherwise. We can fly on the backs of dragons, journey to the end of the earth, fight wars with swords led by a 12 year old general, and just stop being us.
    So what is wrong with unrealistic books?